WAPA customers receive USDA Rural Development loans

Electric cooperatives WAPA serves in Colorado, Iowa and Minnesota are among the utilities receiving $276 million in guaranteed loans (PDF, 60 KB) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve system efficiency and reliability. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the investments in a March 13 press release the day before appearing at a Senate hearing on rebuilding American infrastructure. Loans are also going to utilities in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia.

USDA Rural Development’s Electric Program provides loan guarantees to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. Rural Development assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. These are the kinds of projects that could make the areas more inviting to new businesses, the people the businesses would need to fill jobs.

Improving transmission, moreThe transmission system of Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power Association will get 52 miles of new lines, 14 miles of improvements and $560,000 in smart grid upgrades as part of a $10,569,000 Rural Development loan. The co-op provides electric service to more than 5,200 consumers over 3,273 miles of line in eight counties with primarily agriculture-based economies. Small commercial loads account for 10 percent of kilowatt-hour sales. Large commercial accounts, including an ethanol plant, cheese production facility and casino, account for the remaining kWh sales and revenue.

Southeast Colorado Power Association will use $13,000,000 in Rural Development funds to build 72 miles of line, improve 125 miles and make other system improvements. A member of Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the La Junta-based co-op serves 7,688 residential, nearly 1,500 irrigation and 1,100 commercial consumers across a 13,000-square-mile service territory that covers 11 Colorado counties.

“This funding will allow SECPA to advance important infrastructure efforts and provide reliable, affordable electricity essential to sustaining the economic well-being and quality of life for rural Coloradans,” said Sallie Clark, USDA Rural Development Colorado state director.

Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative will receive a $6,100,000 loan to build 69 miles of line, upgrade 96 miles and make other system improvements, including $775,000 for smart grid projects. The projects the co-op chose to put in its Rural Development application came from its $11.4 million construction work plan for 2017-2020. “We do a plan every four or five years to identify infrastructure needs like replacing lines or poles or expanding the system where the population is growing,” explained Phil Kinser, Southwest Iowa REC chief executive officer.

A member of Central Iowa Power Cooperative, Southwest’s local economy relies heavily on agriculture. Like other recipients, the co-op’s service territory has steadily lost population over the last decade due to younger residents leaving for metropolitan areas.

Funding availableApplying for a Rural Development Loan is now more streamlined since the USDA moved much of the application process online. “Providing additional information or answers to follow-up questions is much quicker and easier,” Kinser observed.

But a good working relationship with the local USDA field office still makes for a less-stressful application process. Kinser offered kudos to Pat Bormann, General Field Representative with the Rural Utilities Service – Electric Programs. “Pat did a great job of helping us to navigate the application process,” Kinser recalled. “His assistance was invaluable.”